The world has been transformed by the internet. Google, founded just 20 years ago, is a major force in online information. The company name is a misspelt version of “googol”, the number one followed by one hundred zeros. This name echoes the vast quantities of information available through the search engines of the company.

For good or ill, social media is now fair game for recruiters and HR departments when checking out job candidates.

Still, it can be messy to Google-stalk potential hires and track down their various profiles. A Sydney-based startup, The Social Index, has built a tool that aims to streamline that process. From early 2015, the company has been building the platform and working with a few trusted businesses to really “push on it,” founder Fiona McLean told Mashable.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to revive a challenge to Google’s digital library of millions of books, turning down an appeal from authors who said the project amounted to copyright infringement on a mass scale.

The Supreme Court’s brief order left in place an appeals court decision that the project was a “fair use” of the authors’ work, ending a legal saga that had lasted more than a decade.

Like most 25-year-olds, Julia Rozovsky wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life. She had worked at a consulting firm, but it wasn’t a good match. Then she became a researcher for two professors at Harvard, which was interesting but lonely. Maybe a big corporation would be a better fit. Or perhaps a fast-growing start-up. All she knew for certain was that she wanted to find a job that was more social.

A year ago, my boss announced that our large New York ad agency would be moving to an open office. After nine years as a senior writer, I was forced to trade in my private office for a seat at a long, shared table. It felt like my boss had ripped off my clothes and left me standing in my skivvies.

When was the last time software billed as a “communication platform” actually made you more productive? If we measure productivity by the number of emails we get in our inbox every day, we’re doing great. If we measure it by the number of tweets we receive, the Facebook posts we read and the meetings we attend, wow, are we productive.

When a smartphone app wants to alert you to a coming appointment, a text message or some bit of breaking news from your social network, it sends a tiny flare that lights up your phone’s lock screen. Depending on how you’ve set it up, the app might then buzz your pocket like a manic bee, sound a citywide panic alarm or begin playing “La Cucaracha.”

More than 40 years ago, Alvin Toffler unleashed the book Future Shock on the United States. In it, he used the term “information overload” to refer to the disoriented reaction experienced by people when they feel overwhelmed by constant technological churn. Summed up, his thesis is that technology is developing faster and faster — and faster than people can respond to it, leaving them anxious and befuddled.